Across the Mahāyāna world, observances centered on the Lotus Sutra tend to revolve around recitation, veneration of the text, and the embodiment of its promise of universal Buddhahood. In Japan, especially within Nichiren and Tendai traditions, one finds large-scale gatherings such as Hokke-e, “Lotus Assemblies” devoted to chanting the sutra, often with particular emphasis on chapters like the “Lifespan of the Tathāgata.” Nichiren-related communities also mark Oeshiki, the memorial of Nichiren’s passing, with all‑night chanting of the daimoku, Namu Myōhō‑renge‑kyō, processions, and offerings that express gratitude for the propagation of the Lotus teaching. Daily liturgical practices such as gongyō and extended daimoku chanting sessions further weave the sutra into the fabric of everyday religious life, treating its title as a condensed, living presence of the scripture itself.

In Chinese Tiantai and broader East Asian contexts, the Lotus Sutra is honored through formal Dharma assemblies and repentance rites. Lotus Dharma Assemblies (Fahua fahui) bring monastics and lay followers together for multi‑day recitation of the entire sutra, accompanied by offerings and the dedication of merit to all beings. Repentance rituals such as the Lotus Repentance (Fahua chan) combine chanting, prostrations, and confession of misdeeds, relying on the sutra’s power for purification and the realization of Buddhahood. In some places, chapters associated with Avalokiteśvara’s compassionate activity are incorporated into festivals for ancestors and the departed, so that the sutra’s universal salvific message permeates rites for the living and the dead alike.

Korean and Vietnamese traditions likewise integrate Lotus Sutra devotion into their ceremonial life. In Korea, Beophwa assemblies and related chanting retreats feature recitation of the sutra, often set to traditional Buddhist music, and include bowing practices and doctrinal lectures on the “one vehicle” teaching. Vietnamese temples hold Pháp Hoa ceremonies in which the sutra is chanted on its own or woven into larger festivals such as Vesak and Ullambana, again with particular attention to chapters highlighting universal compassion and salvation. In these settings, the Lotus Sutra functions less as an isolated observance and more as a thread running through the broader ritual calendar.

Across regions, several devotional patterns recur and give these diverse practices a shared spiritual flavor. Sutra recitation—whether of the whole text, selected chapters, or simply its title—is undertaken for merit, protection, healing, and the awakening of all beings. Hand‑copying the sutra, enshrining it in stupas or on altars, circumambulating it, and making offerings to it as if to a living Buddha all reflect the conviction that to encounter this scripture is to encounter the Buddha’s own presence. Memorial services, repentance rites, and daily liturgies that center on the Lotus Sutra thus become concrete enactments of its central promise: that the path to Buddhahood is open, in principle, to every being who upholds, recites, and honors this teaching.